RESNET Certified Inspector | Your Checklist, Your Format | Immediate Electronic Reports
What Is Third Party Quality Assurance?
Third party quality assurance is an independent set of eyes on your build, inspecting against whatever standard you want held. Sometimes that is a program checklist. More often it is your own scope, the details you have been burned on before, or the items a lender, an investor or a municipality wants documented by somebody who does not work for the builder. We build the checklist around what you need verified and we report against it. The value is not that we know your standard better than you do. It is that we are not the party being graded.
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Built Around Your Scope, Not Ours
There is no fixed list of inspections on this page, because a fixed list would be the wrong product. A production builder rolling out a new plan wants framing and envelope consistency across thirty houses. A multifamily developer wants unit to unit repeatability and a paper trail. An owner wants somebody independent walking the job at defined milestones. We take the scope you care about, turn it into a checklist with pass, fail and photographic evidence against every line, and run it identically on each unit so the results are actually comparable.
What This Usually Covers
The scope is yours to set. These are the areas we are asked to verify most often.
Commonly requested:
Where a program checklist already exists, we run that. Where one does not, we write it with you and it belongs to your project. Reporting follows the same rule. If your team lives in a particular format, or a lender needs a specific package, the report gets built to match rather than handed over in whatever shape suits us.
How We Keep Our Services Simple and Easy
We want quality assurance to be a standing arrangement rather than a negotiation every time.
1.
Tell us what you need verified
Plans, the standard you want held, and the milestones you want covered. If you already have a checklist, send it and we will work from yours.
2.
we build the checklist
We turn the scope into a line by line inspection document and agree it with you before the first visit, so nobody is surprised by what gets flagged.
3.
Inspection on Your Milestones
We inspect on the schedule your build actually runs on, unit by unit or house by house, applying the same checklist the same way each time.
4.
Report delivered by email
Pass, fail and photographic evidence against every line, in your format, delivered to whoever on your team needs to see it.
5.
Trend reporting across the project
Once enough units are behind us the recurring findings become obvious, and that is usually where the real money is. A defect repeating on every unit is a process problem, not an inspection problem.
Independent Verification, on Your Terms
Why Builders and Developers Choose Stellar Building Performance
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No missed appointments or reschedules
We’re on the same team
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Other Areas We Serve
Third party quality assurance, blower door testing and duct leakage testing throughout Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee Counties.
Recent Projects in Your Area
Quality assurance work runs alongside code testing on most of our builder accounts, so it turns up within our project updates rather than as a category of its own.
Frequently asked questions about third party quality assurance
Whichever one you want held. A program checklist if the project is in a program, your own internal standard if you have one, or a checklist we write together if you do not. The one thing we will not do is invent a standard on our own and then grade your build against it without agreeing it with you first.
It is a line by line document, and every line has to be objectively verifiable by somebody standing on the site. That constraint is what separates a useful checklist from a wish list.
Every line carries:
And the document as a whole settles:
Yes, and repeat unit work is where third party quality assurance earns the most. When the same plan is built fifty times, a defect caught in unit three is a defect prevented in the other forty seven. That only holds if the inspection is identical every time, which is the argument for a written checklist over a walk-through.
No, unless you specifically ask for it. Code compliance is the building department’s job and we are not a substitute for an inspection by the authority having jurisdiction. Third party quality assurance is about build quality against your standard, which is usually stricter than code and covers plenty of things code has no opinion about at all.
Both, and the difference matters enough to state at the outset. When we are engaged by an owner, developer or lender, our reporting goes to them, and the builder knows that going in. That arrangement works when everybody understands it from the start, so we make sure it is said rather than assumed.
Yes, and most of our quality assurance accounts do exactly that. Blower door, duct leakage and ventilation testing are already scheduled against the same milestones, so folding them into one scope removes a vendor and a handoff from your project.
Quality Assurance Reference
Where Quality Assurance Meets Code Testing
Quality assurance and code compliance are different jobs with different audiences, but they run on the same building. These are the places where what your checklist catches decides what the code test later measures.
questions? give us a call, this is our specialty!
BIG CHANGES COMING IN 2026 FLORIDA BUILDING CODE UPDATES
Duct Leakage testing to be required on all homes with few exceptions, more stringent compliance targets, mechanical ventilation testing & more. Read our updates bulletin below.
2026 Florida Building Code Energy Conservation: What Builders Need to Know
This is one of the places the two scopes meet directly. Air sealing quality verified at rough-in is exactly what the envelope test measures months later. When one party holds both scopes, the quality assurance checklist gets written knowing precisely what the test is going to ask.
R402.4.1.2 Testing.
The building or dwelling unit shall be tested and verified as having an air leakage rate not exceeding seven air changes per hour in Climate Zones 1 and 2, and three air changes per hour in Climate Zones 3 through 8. Dwelling units with an air leakage rate less than three air changes per hour shall be provided with whole-house mechanical ventilation in accordance with Section R403.6.1 of this code and Section M1507.3 of the Florida Building Code, Residential. Testing shall be conducted in accordance with ANSI/RESNET/ICC 380 and reported at a pressure of 0.2 inch w.g. (50 pascals). Testing shall be conducted by either individuals as defined in Section 553.993(5) or (7), Florida Statutes, or individuals licensed as set forth in Section 489.105(3)(f), (g) or (i) or an approved third party. A written report of the results of the test shall be signed by the party conducting the test and provided to the code official. Testing shall be performed at any time after creation of all penetrations of the building thermal envelope.
Exception: Testing is not required for additions, alterations, renovations or repairs of the building thermal envelope of existing buildings in which the new construction is less than 85 percent of the building thermal envelope.
During testing:
1.Exterior windows and doors, fireplace and stove doors shall be closed, but not sealed, beyond the intended weatherstripping or other infiltration control measures.
2.Dampers including exhaust, intake, makeup air, backdraft and flue dampers shall be closed, but not sealed beyond intended infiltration control measures.
3.Interior doors, if installed at the time of the test, shall be open.
4.Exterior doors for continuous ventilation systems and heat recovery ventilators shall be closed and sealed.
5.Heating and cooling systems, if installed at the time of the test, shall be turned off.
6.Supply and return registers, if installed at the time of the test, shall be fully open.
7.If an attic is both air sealed and insulated at the roof deck, interior access doors and hatches between the conditioned space volume and the attic shall be opened during the test and the volume of the attic shall be added to the conditioned space volume for purposes of reporting an infiltration volume and calculating the air leakage of the home.
Projects on the performance path commit to an air leakage number in the energy calculation, and it is frequently tighter than code minimum. That number is worth writing into the quality assurance checklist as an explicit target, because otherwise the crews doing the air sealing are building toward a threshold nobody ever told them about.
R405.2.2 Building air leakage testing.
Building or dwelling air leakage testing shall be in accordance with Sections R402.4 through R402.4.1.2. If an air leakage rate below seven air changes per hour at a pressure of 0.2 inch w.g. (50 pascals) is specified for the proposed design, testing shall verify the air leakage rate does not exceed the air leakage rate of the proposed design instead of seven air changes per hour.
Duct installation quality is one of the most commonly requested line items, and it is also directly measured later by code testing. A quality assurance program that catches duct defects at rough-in reliably produces better duct leakage results at final, on the same houses, with the same crews.
R403.3.3 Duct testing (Mandatory).
Ducts shall be pressure tested to determine air leakage by one of the following methods:
1.Rough-in test: Total leakage shall be measured with a pressure differential of 0.1 inch w.g. (25 Pa) across the system, including the manufacturer’s air handler enclosure if installed at the time of the test. All registers shall be taped or otherwise sealed during the test.
2.Postconstruction test: Total leakage shall be measured with a pressure differential of 0.1 inch w.g. (25 Pa) across the entire system, including the manufacturer’s air handler enclosure. Registers shall be taped or otherwise sealed during the test.
Exceptions:
1.A duct air leakage test shall not be required where the ducts and air handlers are located entirely within the building thermal envelope.
2.Duct testing is not mandatory for buildings complying by Section R405 of this code. Duct leakage testing is required for Section R405 compliance where credit is taken for leakage, and a duct air leakage Qn to the outside of less than 0.080 (where Qn = duct leakage to the outside in cfm per 100 square feet of conditioned floor area tested at 25 Pascals) is indicated in the compliance report for the proposed design.
A written report of the results of the test shall be signed by the party conducting the test and provided to the code official.
R405.2.3 Duct air leakage testing.
In cases where duct air leakage lower than the default Qn to outside of 0.080 (where Qn = duct leakage to the outside in cfm per 100 square feet of conditioned floor area tested at 25 Pascals) is specified for the proposed design, testing in accordance with Section R403.3.2 shall verify a duct air leakage rate not exceeding the leakage rate of the proposed design. Otherwise, in accordance with Section R403.3.3, duct testing is not mandatory for buildings complying by Section R405.
Where a quality assurance program pushes envelopes tighter, units start landing under 3.00 ACH50 and picking up a mechanical ventilation requirement. On a multi-unit project that is far better handled in the scope conversation at the start than discovered unit by unit at the end.
R403.6.1 Whole-house mechanical ventilation system fan efficacy.
When installed to function as a whole-house mechanical ventilation system, fans shall meet the efficacy requirements of Table R403.6.1.
Exception: Where an air handler that is integral to tested and listed HVAC equipment is used to provide whole-house mechanical ventilation, the air handler shall be powered by an electronically commutated motor.
Review TABLE R403.6.1 WHOLE-HOUSE MECHANICAL VENTILATION SYSTEM FAN EFFICACY
R403.6.2 Ventilation air.
Residential buildings designed to be operated at a positive indoor pressure or for mechanical ventilation shall meet the following criteria:
1.The design air change per hour minimums for residential buildings in ASHRAE 62.2, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, shall be the maximum rates allowed for residential applications.
2.No ventilation or air-conditioning system make-up air shall be provided to conditioned space from attics, crawlspaces, attached enclosed garages or outdoor spaces adjacent to swimming pools or spas.
3.If ventilation air is drawn from enclosed space(s), then the walls of the space(s) from which air is drawn shall be insulated to a minimum of R-11 and the ceiling shall be insulated to a minimum of R-19, space permitting, or R-10 otherwise.
Let’s Build the Checklist
Similar Services
Stellar Building Performance specializes in building performance diagnostics.
Duct Leakage Testing
Verify duct system airtightness using professional duct leakage testing required for new construction inspections.
Blower Door Testing
Measure whole house air leakage against the Florida energy code threshold. On quality assurance accounts this is usually folded into the same scope and the same schedule.
Helping Builders and Developers Stay on Schedule
Fast Scheduling
Builders get testing scheduled quickly to avoid delays.
accurate results
Professional equipment ensures reliable measurements.
immediate reports
Documentation provided immediately by email for inspection approvals.
